Ex-DSC Chief Found Dead Amid Illegal Surveillance Allegations

The former head of the Defense Security Command(DSC), who had been under investigation over his alleged role in the now-disbanded military intelligence unit’s illegal surveillance of civilians, has been found dead in an apparent suicide.

The Seoul Songpa Police Station said Lee Jae-soo jumped off a building in Munjeong-dong, Songpa District on Friday. An acquaintance of his is known to have an office in the building.

Early this month, the prosecution sought an arrest warrant for Lee on charges he ordered illegal surveillance of bereaved families of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014. The court, however, dismissed the request saying he posed no risk of fleeing or destroying evidence.

According to a military probe team, the DSC set up a task force on the ferry incident at its headquarters in April 2014, and mobilized its regional and intelligence units to carry out surveillance activities.

The DSC was disbanded in September over suspicions that it prepared plans to impose martial law in the event the Constitutional Court rejected the impeachment of ex-President Park Geun-hye.